Good Morning All,
Would it ever have been prototypical to see a single GP9 A unit or a GP9 AA pulling the 20th Century Limited?
Thanks,
Bernard
Maybe out of the station, switching it around, over the road, no. mh.
As far as I can tell it was always E-7s or E-8s. Geeps were used a lot on the Big Four for passenger trains by the way but they used E units too. The geeps did see service on secondary trains on the other parts of the system. The minorty F-3 steam generator equpped units were never used on the 20 Century that I know of either. However, before they were demoted to freight service two common assignments were the New England States and Big Four trains btw Cincinatti and Chicago.
I’d think it would be rare (if it ever happened) to see the Century being pulled by one engine. Even towards the end it still had enough cars to warrant as least two engines. You can never say ‘never’, it could be that a passenger steam-boiler equipped GP might have been in a consist pulling the Century at some point, but it would have been rare - pinch-hitting for a down E-unit or adding more steam capacity on a bitter cold winter day.
Of course, the NYC ran a lot of inter-city and commuter passenger trains, and passenger F’s, GP’s and Alco RS-3’s could be seen on them.
I once saw the Capital Limited pulled by two CR SD-40s as the Amtrak F40PH’s were dead in tow. Could a failure of engine cause GP9s to be comandeered? Could be. Did it ever happen? Highly unlikely. NYC would probably have taken the road power from another train for the Century and assign the GP’s to the secondary train. Most railroads also kept standby power at intervals for emergencies.
Thank you one and all!!